When case is an authority only for what it actually decides and not for what may logically follow from it?

  A case  is an  authority  only  for  what it  actually
decides and not for what may logically follow from it. Every
judgment must  be read as applicable to the particular facts
proved, or assumed to be proved; since the generality of the
expressions which  may be found there are not intended to be
expositions of the whole  law but  governed or qualified by
the particular facts of the case in which expressions are to
be found.  In Kewal  Krishan Puri's  case there  are certain
observations which were really not necessary for purposes of
that decision  and go beyond the occasion and therefore they
have no  binding authority though they may have a persuasive
value.

Supreme Court of India

Sreenivasa General Traders & Ors. ... vs State Of 

Andhra Pradesh & Ors. Etc on 6 September, 1983

Equivalent citations: 1983 AIR 1246, 1983 SCR (3) 843




Bench: Sen, A.P. (J)

Read full judgment here;click here

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